Metaphysical poetry is a school of English poetry in the first half of17th century. The name first appeared in Truman's letter. In The Origin and Development of Irony, Clayton commented on Dunn: "There are too many metaphysical elements in poetry …" Johnson expanded the term in The Biography of Poets to refer to poems written by poets such as Dunn.
This school came into being under the condition of social reaction, abandoned the humanistic tradition of lyric poetry in Renaissance, advocated Solke's doctrine, followed the principles of Baroque poetics in art, and its representatives were john donne, John Herbert, Farhan and Crashaw, who mainly described religious subjects.
The influence of poetry
The appearance of Metaphysics School marks the decline of English literature in17th century. However, in the 20th century, some British and American modernist poets (such as Eliot and others) became interested in metaphysical poetry and regarded it as their own pioneers.
Among metaphysical poems, Cowley's Poems in Full Bloom and Mistress, Marvey's Garden and Bermuda, Herbert's collection of poems The Temple, and the French religious poem Seikst Shentilans are the best.